Device for separating adhesive stamps from paper, etc.



' Dec. 1, 1942. R 2,303,929

DEVICE FOR SEPARATING ADHESIVE STAMPS FROM PAPER, ETC.

Filed March 1 1, 1 941 I INVENTOR eweiaflkzazfir ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 1, 1942 UNITED ST TENT orrics DEVICE FOR SEPARATING ADHESIVE STAMPS FROM PAPER, ETO.

11 Claims.

This invention relates to a method and means for separating adhesive stamps from objects such as envelopes, bits of paper, etc., to which they may be stuck, and it has for its object to effect such separation neatly and cleanly, without damaging the stamp or removing the original adhesive gum on the back.

The invention is useful in many situations for preserving or even greatly enhancing the value of postage and other stamps to philatelists and collectors, in a variety of difierent ways as willfrom one owner to another and are transferred from album to album over a period of years. Such hinges or bits of paper stuck on the back of a mint stamp will affect its value, and they cannot be removed by soaking in water as in the case of used stamps because soaking would dissolve the original gum of the stamp and materially reduce its value. My invention makes it possible for the first time to remove all such bits of paper without removing the original gum or otherwise damaging the stamp in any way.

Another situation in which my invention may be used to advantage is in the treatment of postage stamps which are printed in'fugitive inks. These stamps, such as the early Russian issues, and later emissions of the Dutch East Indies, etc., cannot be soaked in water without effacing the design of the stamp. As a consequence, used stamps of this nature usually remain stuck to pieces of envelope which renders them unsightly from the collectors standpoint, or else they are peeled ofi the envelope with resulting skinning or tearing of the stamp. By means of my invention such stamps, whether used or unused, may easily be separated from a paper or other vehicle without injury of any kind.

Again, I have on several occasions found old covers or envelopes containing valuable stamps which were uncancelled, either because they were never mailed or because they were not struck by the cancelling device, and I have restored such stamps to their proper status as mint rareties by removing them from the covers without removing their original gum. Still other situations in which my invention may be used to advantage are: to remove classic old stamps from old album pages upon which they were stuck down flat in accordance with a practice which appears to have been prevalent in the early days of stamp collecting; to remove a valuable used stamp from a cover to ascertain its condition, and then restore it to its original position on the cover, which is of inestimable value when the sale of a rare cover may turn upon the condition of the stamp; and to separate amass of unused postage stamps "which have accidentally become stuck together ample a hinged cover.

and are therefore of limited value even for postal purposes unless separated with the gum intact.

In all these situations, as well as in others which occur in the held of philately, my method of separatin the adhesive stamp from the object to which it is stuck, without impairing the original adhesive gum of the stamp, consists briefly in confining the object containing the stamp in a relatively small enclosure in close proximity to, but out of direct contact with, a body of moisture preferably of a relatively large surface area, and permitting normal evaporation of said moisture at room temperature. I have discovered that by subjecting the stamp to such treatment for a period of time depending upon the nature of the gum, the size of the stamp, etc., but rarely exceeding thirty minutes, the gum will be modified slightly to an extent permitting the stamp,

upon removal from the enclosure, to be separated the atmosphere the gum will quickly set in its original condition. Where a comparatively deep box is used, more time may be given, it being evident that for increased height of air in the box, increased time should be given for conditioning the atmosphere within the box.

The device employed in carrying out the invention preferably comprises a hollow box having solid bottom and side walls and a cover, for ex- I prefer to employ a rectangular box, both for convenience and to enable the box to accommodate standard envelopes when desired. In the preferred embodiment of the invention I provide a tray which is seated loosely in the box and which is formed of wire screen or other foraminous material having legs for supporting the tray above the bottom of the box and providing a space for the storage of liquid or moisture beneath the tray. In the embodiment shown here for purposes of illustration the liquid reservoir consists of absorbent material such as a sponge, blotting paper or the like, which is charged with water, but preferably not saturated, before being placed in the box. The tray is then placed in the box, over the liquid reservoir, and the object containing the stamp is placed on the tray, preferably with the stamp face down. The stamp is placed face down so that the gum thereon will settle downwardly onto the back of the stamp, upon which it is valuable. In cases of rare specimens, a longer period of treatment may be given so that substantially all the gum will settle on the back of the stamp.

torily when a slight passage of air to and from the box is permitted. For this purpose I provide means for adjustably regulating the closure of the box, as hereinafter described, but in lieu thereof the cover may be tightly closed and other suitable air vents provided for the stated purpose. The fitting tolerances necessary in the economical manufacture of the box and lid, and in the hinges, are useful for this purpose. After a suitable period of treatment, usually twenty minutes in the case of a small box and proportionally longer in the cases of larger boxes, the box is opened and the stamp and adhering object withdrawn. The stamp is then gently lifted from the adhering object such as a cover, or in the case of adhering hinges or bits of paper the latter are gently lifted from the stamp, which can best be accomplished with the aid of conventional stamp tongs. During the period of treatment the box should not be exposed to excess heat since the ambulant atmosphere within the box would become charged with more moisture than it could normally absorb, and more than the stamp needs, so that over-saturation of the stamp might occur, and droplets of water might form. Also, the box should, during the operation, not be exposed to drafts or sudden chilling,.

which might precipitate the high moisture content of the atmosphere within the box.

When the tray supporting the stamps, covers, etc., is composed of wire screen, as is preferably the case, I prefer to construct the screen in such a way as to provide evenly spaced protuberances at the intersections of the wires, thus providing raised supports for the stamp or cover with minimum points of contact in whatever random position the stamp or cover may be placed.

These and various other features and advantages of the invention will be further described in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig, 1 is a perspective view of a box embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the foraminous tray which supports the stamp or other object to be treated;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing stacked.

thereto by suitable hinges 3. The cover is adapted to telescope over the upper edge of the box to close same.

Loosely seated within the box I is arectangular stand or tray 4 composed of wire screen having wire legs 5 for supporting the tray above the bottom of the box. In the embodiment illustrated, the wires of the screen, which may be woven or joined by soldering or in any other suitable manner, have evenly spaced protuberances 6 at their points of intersection, so that, when a paper object such as a stamp is placed on the tray in any random position, it will rest on the protuberances 6 which afford minimum points of contact with the stamp as best shown in Fig. 4.

The box described above may be made of any suitable material such as wood, metal or plastic composition, and it may be of any suitable external or internal dimensions according to the purpose for which it is to be used. The box shown here for purposes of illustration is of a size large enough to permit envelopes of standard size to be placed upon the foraminous tray 4 and to clear the sides of the box. I have found it convenient to employ a box having an inside depth of about 1', making the height of the tray 4 about and leaving about above the level of the tray 4. It is apparent that the overall size of the box depends upon the size of the stamp or other engraving, or of the envelope being treated to loosen and render temporarily inoperative the gum holding the parts together.

The liquid reservoir, which is preferably placed on the bottom of the box beneath the tray 4, may be of any suitable construction but I prefer to employ for this purpose an absorbent material such as a sponge, blotting paper or the like. In the embodiment illustrated I employ a plurality of strips or sheets 'i of blotting paper which are stacked one above the other as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4.

For the foregoing purpose I prefer to employ strips or sheets of blotting paper having a multiplicity of raised points or projections 8 on both faces, the projections 3 serving to space the layers 'l slightly from one another thereby providrelatively large surface area for the evaporation of the absorbed liquid.

Fig, 5 illustrates a convenient device for forming the projections 8 on the blotting paper 1.

This device consists of a pair of cooperating pressure rolls 8 and [0 which are journaled in, a stand H and are adapted to be rotated by a crank 12, the roll 9 actuating roll Ill through suitable gears 81:. and Hi. The rolls 9 and I0 contain irregularly placed depressions, so that, when the sheets of blotting paper are squeezed between the rolls, the depressions of the rolls produce the projections 8 irregularly on both surfaces of the blotter so that adjacent blotters will not close up on one another when they are stacked in the manner shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

In operation, the blotters I are charged with water, after which they are stacked in the box, one on top of another, as illustrated in Fig. 4. The foraminous tray 4 is then placed in the box above the stacked sheets of blotting paper 1, with the legs 5 of the tray straddling the sheets I as illustrated in Fig. 4.

The adhesive stamp and the object to which it is stuck are then placed on top of the tray 4. In Figs. 1 and 4 I show a postage stamp IS the gumrned side of which contains an accumulation of paper hinges l6 which it is desired to remove from the stamp. The stamp I5 is placed face down on the tray 4, and it will be noted that it rests on the protuberances 6 of the tray as shown in Fig. 4.

The cover 2 is swung down on its hinges 3 to close the box, but I prefer not to close the cover too tightly as I have found that the cold evaporation of the liquid from the blotters l proceeds most satisfactorily whena slight passage of air to and from the box is permitted. For this purpose I may provide an adjustable wing screw H on the cover 2 cooperating with the upper edge of the box as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. By turn- After a suitable period of treatment, usually twenty minutes or longer, depending upon the size of the box, the cover 2 is raised and the stamp- !5 containing th hinges or bits of paper It is withdrawn. The bits of hinges l6 are then lifted from the stamp, preferably with the aid of conventional stamp tongs. This is done quickly since upon exposing the stamp to the atmosphere the gum will quickly set to its original condition, leaving no traces of the bits of paper which have been removed therefrom.

It will be evident to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the details of construction and method of operation described above without departing from the scope and spirit of the above invention as defined in the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

1. A device for treating stamps and the like articles to separate them from obje gts to which H they are adhesively united, comprising a box and a cover therefor, a reservoir for liquid in said box, and a screen of wide mesh in said box for supporting stamps and the like out of direct contact with the liquid in said reservoir whereby when the article is placed upon the screen and the cover is closed, the vapor emanating from the liquid will uniformly saturate the atmosphere within the box and thereby loosen the adhesive on the article without forming drops of liquid thereon.

2. A device for treating stamps and the like gular box and a hinged cover for closing same, a rectangular platform composed of wide mesh wire screen having lugs at the corners thereof for supporting said platform above the bottom of the box and providing a space for the storage of moisture beneath said platform, the wires of said screen having evenly spaced protuberances at their points of intersection for supporting the articles to be treated placed at random thereon, and means for regulating the extent of closure of said cover.

7. A device for treating stamps and the like articles to separate them from objects to which articles to separate them from objects to which they are adhesively united, comprising a box and a cover for closing same, a platform composed of wide mesh screen for supporting the article above the bottom of the box, means for the storage of moisture beneath said platform, and means for allowing limited passage of air to and from said box.

3. A device for treating stamps and the like articles to separate them from objects to which they are adhesively united, comprising a box and a cover therefor, and a platform composed of wide mesh screen having legs for supporting said platform above the bottom of the box and providing a space for the storage of moisture beneath said platform, the elements forming said screen being vertically undulated whereby to engage the articl at spaced points.

4. A device for treating stamps and the like articles to separate them from objects to which they are adhesively united, comprising a rectangular box and a cover for closing same, a rectangular platform composed of wide mesh screen having legs at the corners thereof for supporting said platform above the bottom of the box and providing a space for the storage of moisture beneath said platform, and means for controlling the passage of air to and from said box.

5. A device for treating stamps and the like articles to-separate them from objects to which they are adhesively united, comprising a rectangular box and a cover for closing same, a rectangular platform composed of wide mesh screen for supporting the articles to be treated, the elements forming said screen having protuberances at their points of intersection for supporting said objects at spaced intervals only, absorbent material in the bottom of said box below said screen for the storage of moisture, and means for controlling the passage of air to and from said box.

6. A device for treating stamps and the like articles to separate them from objects to which they are adhesively united, comprising a rectanthey are adhesively united, comprising a rectangular box and a hinged cover for closing same, a rectangular platform composed of wide mesh wire screen having wire legs at the corners thereof for supporting said platform above the bottom of the box, the wires of said screen having evenly spaced protuberances at their points of intersection for supporting the articles to be treated placed at random thereon, a plurality of layers of blotting paper stacked on the bottom of said box beneath said platform and having a multiplicity of projections thereon for spacing the absorbent surfaces of said layers from one another, and an adjustable screw on said cover cooperating with said box to limit the closing thereof.

8. The method of separating an adhesive stamp from an object to which it is stuck, without impairing the original adhesive gum of the stamp, which comprises confining the object to which the stamp is attached in an enclosure in close proximity to, but out of direct contact with, a body of moisture, permitting normal evaporation of said moisture at room temperature in the presence of a limited flow of air until the gum is sufficiently softened to permit the removal of the stamp from the object, and removing the stamp While the gum is in such softened condition.

9. The method of separating an adhesive stamp from an object to which it is stuck, without impairing the original adhesive gum of the stamp, which comprises confining the object to which the stamp is attached in an enclosure, with the stamp face down and in clos proximity to, but out of direct contact with, a body of moisture, permitting normal evaporation of said moisture at room temperature in the presence of a limited flow of air until the gum is sufiiciently softened to permit the removal of the stamp from the object, and removing the stamp while the gum is in such softened condition.

10. The method of separating an adhesive stamp or the like article from an object to which it is stuck without impairing the original adhesive gum of the article, which comprises confining th object to which the article is attached in an enclosure in proximity to, but out of direct.

contact with, a body of moisture having a surface area which is relatively large with respect to said article, and permitting normal evaporation of said moisture at room temperature while maintaining the enclosure away from drafts and other influences which might produce sudden temperature changes, until the gum is in softened condition, and then separating the article from the object While the gum remains softened.

11. The method claimed in claim 10, wherein the article is maintained in face-down position while confined whereby to settle the gum downwardly onto the article.

GERARD H, GILBERT. 

